Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)
Kayla Jacobs
Board of Directors

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday! Divine Mercy Sunday, always on the Sunday after Easter, is a feast in the Church that celebrates the Lord's Mercy. It was instituted in 2000, announced at the canonization of St. Maria Faustina by St. John Paul II. 

I am grateful to write this reflection as mercy has both shaped my faith and remained a core way I experience my faith in the world. I became a practicing Catholic as an adult, being confirmed at the age of 21. Before my Confirmation and as I was in the process of converting I encountered a couple of communities of Catholics who were living out their faith in a way I had never seen before. I went to Saint Xavier University, founded by the Sisters of Mercy, whose mission is to show mercy in the world through serving the poor and vulnerable. My interactions with the sisters on campus piqued my interest in the Catholic Church. 

The other community I encountered was Nazareth Farm in West Virginia. Nazareth Farm is an intentional community of Catholics who live their lives based on four cornerstones: prayer, community, simplicity, and service. Together, they tend to the earth in their gardens, pray, host service retreats, and serve people in need in their community. One member of the community impressed me so much by his faith life that, knowing he was also a convert, I asked him what led him to live in such a way. He responded, “I read Acts [of the Apostles]”.

One of my favorite parts of the Easter season is that the Mass readings always begin with a reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It is only fitting that the reading from the Acts of the Apostles on Divine Mercy Sunday includes lines such as: “the community of believers was of one heart and one mind…they had everything in common” and “there was no needy person among them… [they sold everything] and distributed to each according to need.” Scripture provides us with Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in both the Gospel and the Old Testament and as I saw embodied at Nazareth Farm and through the Sisters of Mercy, the Acts of the Apostles is a blueprint for how to live out God’s mercy in the world. 

To end, I'd like to quote one of my inspirations, a strong example of mercy personified, the Venerable Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement: “Everything a baptized person does every day should be directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.”